The King's Toys
by WolfishMoon
Summary: Ryuk can have his fun, but that doesn't mean the Shinigami King won't interfere, not only Ryuk suffers from boredom issues. So the Old Man puts his own pieces on the board to join the battle. Four teenagers from a universe where Death Note is but a manga, and a shinigami. All the Old Man hopes, is that whatever happens, it'll be a good show. Rewrite of When Jack Ruined Everything
1. Chapter 1

**And here is the first chapter of The King's Toys! A title that will be explained in chapter two, unless you've already guessed what it means! It is fairly obvious, in my opinion, and almost outright states it in the summary.**

**So, The King's Toys is the rewrite of When Jack Ruined Everything. You can go back and read that if you want, but it isn't finished, and won't be. I just wasn't pleased with the writing, especially in the earlier chapters, and I hated where the plot was going. So, a fresh attempt! I hope you enjoy it! I don't own Death Note, but I do hope that you REVIEW!**

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November 10th 2012

My three best friends and I were lying in a circle, our heads barely an inch from touching each other. We were looking at the cloudy gray sky through a skylight, which was the nice thing about living on the top floor of the apartment building. "What do you all want to do with your lives?" Jack, the only boy of my small group asked curiously.

"I dunno," Juniper said with a sigh. Juniper, the oldest of my friends, wasn't a teenager anymore, at twenty years old and in college, studying to become a detective, so all of the us were surprised by her response.

"Really?" I asked, I was the second youngest of the group at sixteen years old.

"Well, I know what I want to do, but it doesn't feel right, somehow. I feel as though I'm not in the right place to do it. You know?"

"Yeah, I guess," I replied.

"What about you guys?" Juniper questioned.

"Well, I don't have a damn clue," Jack said.

"You're only fifteen," Juniper said, "You have time to think it over. Don't worry about it,"

"I don't really know if I actually have the time, because I just know that if I don't make a solid plan sometime soon, I'm gonna be stuck taking over my dad's company," He made a disgruntled noise, "What about the rest of you?"

"Well, you all know I want to be a musician, and a piercing artist," Violet finally spoke up, she wasn't in college, opting to apprentice herself out to the local body piercing shop. She was barely a month younger than Juniper and, too, was twenty. One may find it odd, that two young adults, and two teenagers barely half way through their teen years would be such good friends, but somehow it had happened.

We met at karate class, and somehow ended up living on the same block. Jack lived in the large house on the corner, Violet and I lived in the apartment building in the middle of the block, Juniper lived right across the street in the condo complex.

We hadn't all lived there at first, but somehow we had all moved onto the same little scrap of land by the time Jack was in first grade. Before I knew it, I was being babysitted by Violet and Jack by Juniper. Being in the same grade, Juniper and Violet had known each other, and had orchestrated visits to the playground a few blocks east that would 'coincidentally' coincide, and we had ended up feeling more like friends than two babysitters and their respective charges.

Now, it was more difficult, with Juniper and Violet living across town, closer to the community college that Juniper attended, and the piercing shop that Violet apprenticed in, but we still managed to spend a fairly substantial amount of time together.

"And me, well, Juniper and I have always been too much on the same wavelength for our own good," I stated, wanting to go into a criminal justice career myself, "Don't worry, Jack. You'll find something before you end up stuck in your dad's footprints. Who knows, maybe you'll join Juniper and I!"

"Fat chance, Kathy," Jack laughed.

"You never know!" Juniper added.

"Is it strange that I've wanted to be a detective for two whole years mostly because of Death Note?"

"Yeah, it is," Jack said just as Juniper responded,

"Nah. That's why I started wanting to be one, and look at me now, I love it,"

"You two are pathetic," Violet laughed. There was an angry knocking on the door to the apartment and I groaned to my feet. It was my residence, after all.

"Who is it?" I asked through the door.

"It's Mrs. Cassidy!"

"Tell her I'm not here!" Jack hissed, and I rolled my eyes.

"Come in," I said opening the door with a guarded expression. She could hear Violet begin to play her guitar loudly, while singing at the chorus to the song, 'Blood, Sex, and Booze,' probably just to appall Jack's mother.

"Where the hell is my son, and what have you been doing?!" She asked harshly, probably in part due to the rather... suggestive music playing.

"In the dining room," I said with a glare, clear on what the woman was insinuating, "Violet and Juniper are in there too. Just so you know. And before you ask, my hair is mussed because we've been looking through the skylight. Not anything even remotely sexual, as I'm sure was your first guess," Kathy smirked.

"Yo-you whore!" Mrs. Cassidy stuttered, one would think she'd be used to this by now. Violet's song changed to 'Jackass', it was clear she meant every word she belted out.

"Oh, you think I could actually fetch a price? Thanks!" I never could deal with the woman all that well. Mrs. Cassidy was almost too stunned to speak.

Jack wasn't even bothering to stifle guffaws at his mother's discomfort, and Juniper was finding it very difficult to not to give into similar urges in front of her former employer.

"Hello Mrs. Cassidy," Juniper managed.

"Hello, Juniper, dear," Mrs. Cassidy managed to put her disgust aside, "I don't know how you put up with that girl. Why do you do it?"

"No idea, ma'am, but I'll remain with her nonetheless,"

"Mother, leave. There are adults here,and besides, don't you think you're being a bit _rude_, considering the fact the person you just called a whore is our host?" That shut her up.

"Fine. Don't do anything rash, Jack,"

"Yes mom," And as quickly as she came she was gone. I sent him an amazed look.

"How do you manage to get her to leave?" Jack shrugged.

"I've been doing it my whole life,"

"True," we once again circled up, this time cross legged, well, Violet sat with her legs stretched out in front of her and and quietly strummed her guitar.

"I just wanna get out of this damn town,"

"Me too, Jack. Me too," I said, understanding his frustration

"I feel so... stifled, how the hell do you two stand to stay?!" Jack asked miserably. Juniper laughed humorlessly.

"I guess we just, felt we needed to stay,"

"Let's go for a walk," Violet suggested, standing and swinging the guitar strap over one shoulder, and beat up purple purse over the other.

"Yeah, maybe we won't feel quite as 'stifled,'" Juniper said, stretching. Jack and I nodded our agreement, and I grabbed my black canvas messenger bag from beside me. With that we left, hoping a long walk would satisfy our restlessness- not that it ever did.

We were in the small bookstore when Violet found a small black notebook and gathered us, flushed with excitement.

"Note de la Mort?' what's that mean?" Jack asked,

"Death Note! It's French," Violet happily responded, being the only one in our group who _spoke_ French, and she couldn't really speak it, she was almost fluent when it came to writing and reading, however.

"Oh my god. You stupid fangirls," Jack said irritably.

"You're the only one in our little group who hasn't watched it! And Kathy and I've even read it!" Juniper stated, "It's time you did, bro,"

"I don't have time for that shit," I took the book from Violet and studied it closely. It was beautiful. Juniper then took it from me and began whacking Jack upside the head with it.

"Ow! Fine, fine! I give! I'll watch the stupid show!"

"Thank you," Juniper halted her attack, "Wow, this looks really real. No names in it all. I wonder who made this, they did a really good job. Not writing the words in English was a nice touch,"

"You think so?" Came a voice, sounding self-satisfied. Jack let out a small shriek and the others stilled. "The name's Rum! Nice to meetcha!" Rum was huge, coming up to Kathy's waist, easily. His eight limbs seemed to be assembled with human bones, his skin of his head and torso appeared to be shiny white leather.

Contrasting the pale appearance, a black bowler hat sat atop his head, and in one of his front legs, or rather his arms, as both appendages had hands unlike his other six limbs, was held a bottle. I didn't even have to look at the label to know it was rum, "I believe y'all will be coming with me," the giant spider said, half of his eight eyes closing, as if winking, and everything was gone. Not black, gone. I could all of us falling against a back drop of blankness, a nothingness stretching seemingly to eternity. Each of us was screaming as loudly as everyone else, and through the noise of our own screams, I could hear a soft, musical voice whisper, "Good luck, children," and I knew everyone else could hear it too.

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**Word Count:1550**

**Okay, the songs Violet plays in this chapter are by Green Day, and I don't own them either.**

**I hope everyone enjoyed this monstrosity! And here ends the first re-written chapter of "When Jack Ruined Everything" except it isn't even called that anymore, so if you loved it, if you hated it, if you thought it was so-so, tell me through REVIEWING, it really is a marvelous feature!**


	2. Encounters

**Heya! Here's chapter two of The King's Toys, all ready to be read! Sorry it took so long to get it out, it's been sitting on my computer, completed for months now. I just haven't posted.**

**Anyway, just like last chapter, I claim NO ownership of Death Note what so ever. Enjoy, and please REVIEW!**

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The King's Toys

Chapter 2

Encounters

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I peeled open my eyes and reached for the Death Note that had landed only about a foot from where I was. I quickly stowed it in my bag and looked around to see that Violet, Juniper, and Jack were also waking from similar spells of unconsciousness, "What happened, where are we?" I asked.

"No idea," Jack said grimly.

"I feel like I was hit over the head with a brick," Violet said, clutching the neck of her guitar.

"I feel hungover," Juniper said, reaching into a bag and pulling out a bottle of green liquid.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Vodka in limeade," she responded before taking a swig.

"You're too young to be drinking that, you know," I said.

"Only by a year, and I saw you drinking this same concoction not a month ago, don't be a hypocrite, Kathy." Juniper rolled her eyes and I shrugged nervously.

"You got me there, Juni."

"Please don't call me that."

"Fine."

"Can you both shut up?! I think right now we need to concentrate our efforts on finding out what the hell happened!" Violet reprimanded. I could hear music playing and though somehow Violet still had her guitar, (for once) she wasn't the one playing.

"Do you hear that?" I asked.

"Yeah!" Violet, Juniper and Jack replied almost simultaneously. The four of us started walking to the noise, curious. In what seemed to be the center of the park was movie set. A blond girl and a young man were talking.

"This seems really familiar," I said, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"No shit, Sherlock," Juniper said.

"Crap. Is that... Misa Amane?" I said, eyes widening in shock and fear at the realization. Juniper's silence was all the response I needed.

"Yay! Yay! Yay!" Violet clapped her hands quietly, jumping up and down, seriousness forgotten, "We're in Death Note!" She tacked on in a sing songy voice. But then she realized just what that entailed, "Shit,"she said, as her face paled.

"I knew your obsession with that stupid show was going to be the end of me," Jack buried his head in his hands.

"Wait, if that's Misa... that must be..."

"Matsuda!" Violet exclaimed, louder than she should have. He turned.

"Shit," I groaned as he began to make his way over.

"How do you know that name?" he asked fearfully.

"Oh uh I... I don't know... Is that your name? I have a friend named Matsuda Yoko and I was complaining about her," Violet said fast.

"That's the name of my little sister!" Matsuda exclaimed. I face-palmed. Neither the anime, manga, or guide said anything about Matsuda having a sister of any kind. Dammit.

"Oh um the Yoko I know doesn't have an older brother," Violet stuttered.

"Oh uh sorry. Wow! What a coincidence," Matsuda chuckled nervously. "Um. What's your name?" he asked.

"Uh," Violet thought for a moment and I sharply shook my head. If this is the Death Note universe, we shouldn't be giving out our names, "It's Rose. Martinez Rose," Violet said as quickly as possible. I sighed in relief, thankful for her quick thinking. Now, to remember that.

On the movie set Misa turned away from the kiss that was about to transpire. "Director, I have a boyfriend, so can we cut the love scenes?"

"What?!"

"We can just act like we're kissing!"

"We can't make a movie that way!"

"Well, I say no, so it's no!" Matsuda sighed and shook his head at Misa's antics. His gaze turned pensive, and he clutched his coffee cup tighter. Remembering just what he was thinking made me want to give him a hug, and Violet seemed to be reaching out a hand to put on his shoulder, but just as she began to raise it, she returned it to her side.

"The Yotsuba building! And it's Friday!" He paused a moment, returning to thought. He flinched and dropped his coffee cup. It landed on Violet's shoes. She squealed and glared.

"Oh uh, I'm very sorry! I have to go, Miss Martinez!" He took off running. Violet made a move to follow him but a high, scratchy voice told us all otherwise.

"Don't follow him!" I looked up, startled. Above us was Rum. I hadn't noticed the wings before

"Why don't you want me to follow him?" Violet demanded.

"Because I want you to get involved in the investigation!"

"That makes no sense. If you want us to get involved, why would you not want us to follow Matsuda?" Juniper demanded

"Because Matsuda isn't the weakest link. Amane is," There was a collective 'ohhh' of comprehension. And then a 'huh, why?'

"What do you by mean by that?" Juniper asked.

"Soon, Amane will receive a call from Light, and then Matsuda. I need you to intercept that phone call-"

"Hey! She'll see our names!" Juniper protested.

"No she won't" I replied, "She's innocent right now, remember?"

"Oh right," Juniper face-palmed.

"Even if she wasn't, she couldn't see your names. Because you're human, the Death Note would work on you, so you have to be wary of that but, because you aren't from this dimension, you aren't on quite the same wavelength as her and most of the people she sees. Therefore, she won't be able to see your names. It's like a radio, you can hear the music on the station before and after what it's on sometimes, but the sound isn't perfect. So, she can kill you if you tell her your name, but she can't see it for herself," Rum sighed and took a swig of rum. "Got it?"

"Yeah," Juniper said slowly, "I think so,"

"What?" Jack asked, "Were you even speaking English?"

"No, I wasn't," Rum said bluntly, "Japanese. You all can understand it because the Old Man fiddled with your minds a bit. Once you get used to it, you'll be able to tell the difference and switch between English and Japanese, but yes Jack, I was speaking a language you should be able to understand,"

"Oh my god, I'm so confused, who's this 'Old Man' and what so you mean by 'she can't see our names?' Why would she be able to in the first place?"

"We'll explain later. For now, follow along as best you can," Violet said promptly. Rum rolled his eyes and began to speak again,

"Just tell them that you have confidential information regarding the case, that should work and... I think that's it," Rum said

"Okay, just tell us when you think of it, so everyone, think up a fake name, pronto," Violet said, easily taking control of the situation, her intimidating golden eyes bringing us into line, "I'll stay Rose. I think Rose will do just fine for me. And then, everyone else, pick something," she added after a moment. We all thought for a moment, and Juniper spoke first, exuding confidence from every pore of her being,

"Call me Alyssa," she said, eyes excited. Her eyes are only ever that shade of blue when she's excited. Or really pissed off. I spoke next, after another moment of thought.

"Call me... Kris," I hoped that having it start with the same letter as my actual name would help it stick in my mind. Jack looked at us for a moment, eyes scared, even though his mouth was set in a grim line, "Go on, Jack. Choose a name. Please," I said, pleading with my eyes, trying to tell him without words that if he didn't choose a name, he might die. Jack sighed.

"Let's just go with Jay. I can't think of anything else," We all sent Jay relieved smiles.

"One question, Rum? Why is this happening?" Rose asked after a moment.

"I don't know. The Old Man got bored, and is making me do this. He's contenting himself by eagerly watching our hard work. Jackass,"

"So we're nothing but the king's toys, huh?" Alyssa remarked with a dark chuckle.

"I'm afraid so," Rum replied, even though he didn't really need to.

"Why us?" Jay asked

"Isn't it obvious?" Rum asked.

"No, it isn't," Jay responded bluntly.

"It's your ages. Two legal adults, to satisfy the NPA, two children around the ages of L's successors to relate to them when the time comes, among other groups that fit the criteria, you were chosen randomly," Rum said, taking another sip of rum.

"Your right. It is obvious. I wonder why I didn't think of it sooner," I said quietly. Rum laughed, and tipped his bowler hat.

"It's the type of thing that I guess is only obvious in retrospect, Kris,"

A few hours later, when Misa opened her phone to find that Light had called, and eagerly called back, I told Jack- no Jay to hide in the trees. I looked to Violet- no Rose and Juni-Alyssa for strength, and the three of us stepped from the bushes,

"Light! I'm sorry I've been working so much-" Rose twisted the phone from Misa's grip with a deft motion that reminded me of the movement we learned to pull a knife from an attacker's hand in that karate class. She tossed the phone to me. We had decided before hand that I would speak, Violet didn't want to, and Alyssa didn't trust herself enough not to curse out Light the instant she heard his voice.

"Hello," I said, "I have confidential information regarding the Kira investigation, that I know Misa is involved, and that she, along with you, Light Yagami, is a suspect, is proof enough,"

"Who are you and what do you want," I heard Light's voice say over the phone. I smirked.

"Why, I want to help, of course!"

"Who are you?" Light repeated.

"Who am I?" I deliberated for a moment, "I go by K,"

"And I'm R," Rose said into the phone.

"I'm A, don't worry, Ryuzaki. Not _that_ A, and J is hiding in the bushes," Alyssa tittered.

"Hey!" Jay shouted in protest, as he sped from his hiding spot, suddenly not wanting to avoid the action.

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**Word Count: 1721 **

**Of course, Rose and Alyssa decide to ruin the dramatic affect of ending this chapter here. Wouldn't it have been cooler if Kris just said, "I go by K," and it ended there? Oh well, the voices in my head insisted. I hope you enjoyed it! And whether you did or not, I hope you decide to give feed back, and click 'REVIEW.' I would very much appreciate it if you told me what you thought! **


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